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Around Pasumalai Thangal Village

An ox cart at the edge of Pasumalai Thangal Village in the state of Tamil Nadu, (another form of this basic vehicle can be seen at the bottom of the page for Thành Công Village. ) The horns are decorated for the Pongal Festival - see below Pasumalai Thangal lies a kilometre or so from the main road where the bus passes. My friend and his nephew lead the way towards the village This page has pictures of the area around the village of Pasumalai Thangal which is some 150 kilometres south-west of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is not isolated as Indian villages go, being a few hours bus ride from the state capital, it has mains electricity, and there is some water 30 metres down, but that level is dropping, so a well 600 metres deep is being planned. But apart from those two services life is as far removed as possible from that seen on the last pages about Singapore. The page after this one shows more of the village itself. Goats grazing in the fields near the village A man, at the left under the trees, watches as palmyra fruit are collected above him. The curved figure can just be seen, but the gathering technique is better illustrated in the pictures below This area of Tamil Nadu is populated by these stony hills standing up in dry contrast to the green of surrounding paddy fields and trees A billhook is being used to cut off the fruit The tree is ascended and descended without aids The catch - cut fruits These trees are Borassus flabellifer, the palmyra palm, which grows everywhere in, and is the official tree of, Tamil Nadu. It reaches some 30 metres (100 feet) in height, and has many uses including: drinking its sap, eating its sprouts, writing on its leaves, making poles from its trunk, covering roofs with its leaves, and making rope from the fibre of its bark and the stems of its leaves. In these pictures it is of interest for the fruit which we are about to eat. Ayanar, my friend's nephew, is climbing the tree and cutting the fruit from the crown area. Once down he uses the same billhook to open the fruit as he used to dislodge them. It is striking how similar the use of these billhooks is, both here and in northern Vietnam 3,000 kilometres away. The end of the nut is sliced off... ...revealing the soft fruit... ...a delight for the ever-waiting goats Kumaran opens a fruit, while the dogs salivate in anticipation Jackfruit trees are related to figs and mulberries and are native to southern India. One tree has some 100-200 of these 'multiple' fruits, each with 100 to 500 seeds. The seeds are eaten raw or used in cooking, they have a flavour reminiscent of banana Jackfruits (Artocarpus heterophyllus) are Tamil Nadu's official state fruit. The specimens seen here are mere babies for they can grow to weigh up to 55 kilos each Following the State's official tree and its official fruit, these are its unofficial cattle. Nattu Madu Cattle (literally country cattle) are indigenous to ... ...Tamil Nadu, have good disease resistance and drought tolerance, but are not fashionable. This particular variety, Kulai Vaalan, with their soft brown colour, are no longer common Cattle with decorated horns for Mattu Pongal, (Mattu means bull), the third day of the four day Pongal Festival on which the importance of cattle to the raising of crops is celebrated. The whole Pongal Festival marks the first month after the winter solstice As everywhere in India goats abound, this variety are Semeri Aadu. Near the sheep-goat boundary line, they are termed sheep locally These are Bonnet Macaque monkeys seen around the village and common in southern India - often causing consdierable problems The walls of Gingee Fort (pronounced roughly 'sinjee' - the main town of the 'Taluk' or local taxation area). It was considered one of the most impregnable defences in India and accordingly called, the 'Troy of the east' by the British The fortification is 15th century, and is based on earlier 9th century structures> It was built during the period of the Vijayanagar Empire which lasted from 1336 to 1646. The walls run for some 13 kilometres and are protected by a 24 metre wide moat An evening shot of a rocky hill beside Pasumalai Thangal Village which typifies the area; arid rock and paddy fields (watered from very deep bore holes) sweltering from a relentless sun; but the heat eludes the camera The next page takes you into the village with shots of the houses and some of the people who live there.

Connections...

The last page had images showing Singapore's sense of style in architecture To a page of water and snow - St Mary's Loch in winter To the area around a village in northern Vietnam - no shortage of water Or go to the page
which was added one year ago.

Saturday 11th August 2018